Founder & Lead Researcher

A Word About the Name

Child pornography is a legal term in America used by prosecutors, judges and the media.

However, there is a growing movement objecting to the term child pornography and a corresponding debate about what this crime should be called.

Some have argued that the term child sex abuse is not adequate because sex describes legal, consenting adult behavior rather than the illegal rape of children. Child exploitation, some say, is a weak phrase that does not capture the reality of the rape and torture children are enduring.

The term Data4Justice is most comfortable with is the Trade in Child Rape & Torture because that is what is occurring.

Massive numbers of Americans trade, on-line every day in images, videos and live-streams of children being raped and brutally tortured. What is depicted in many of these images, videos and live-streams meets the legal definition of torture under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

Organizations devoted to ending torture, such as, Amnesty International, must focus attention on the rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of American children. US Government prosecutors should start using the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in their prosecutions.

Activists are correct. It is not child pornography or child porn. It is rape & torture and it should be legally termed what it is and prosecuted as such. However, at the moment, it is still necessary to use the term child porn because that is the legal description of the crime and sentencing.

Why is Amnesty International USA Silent?

Amnesty International USA has a Stop Torture Campaign but this does not apply to children brutally tortured in images, videos, and live-streams.

Please take a moment and call 202-509-8136 or email MHuang@aiusa.org Margaret Huang, Deputy Executive Director of Campaigns and Programs, Amnesty International USA.

Ask Amnesty International USA to campaign to stop the rape & torture of children being documented every day in images, videos and live-streams.